How do you write articles that your audience actually enjoys reading? How can you grab the attention of prospects who don’t know you? How do you convince internet users that your content is even worth their time?
Some content marketers try to rely heavily on fancy SEO tactics, or paid advertising, but that’s all a waste if you don’t follow the pillars of high-quality article writing. So today, I’m sharing my go-to article writing tips for beginners.
You have all the tools you need to create a high-powered content marketing machine. You know who your ideal customers are, and where they hang out online. You’ve got an editorial calendar and strategy all laid out.
Now, it’s time to create compelling content – the cornerstone of which is free articles for your blog. Use these article writing tips for beginners to start creating content like a pro.
Article Writing Tips For Beginners:
Always keep your audience in mind
I can’t say this enough. If you don’t follow any other content marketing rules, follow the rule of relentlessly creating high-value, useful content for your customers. Use the words that they would use, and write at their reading level. (Hint: the New York Times is written at a 6th grade level. You should do the same.)
Use your own voice
You might be tempted to “sound more professional” by throwing in industry buzz words, but all you’re going to do is confuse your audience, distract from your main point, and scare people away from your article. Do you like to read articles that you can barely understand? Doubtful. Make sure your audience can digest what you’ve written quickly and easily.
Write with clarity, and keep it simple
Are you a robot with a dictionary in your head? No, you’re not, and neither are your readers. No one is going to complain because you made a concept too easy to follow; on the contrary, your readers will thank you for it.
Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes, shared, “Good content deconstructs the complex to make it easily understood: It sheds the corporate ‘Frankenspeak.’ It conveys things in concise, human, accessible terms.”
Use white space liberally
A big part of making an article easy to read is leaving white space so that people can quickly scan and move down the page while still understanding your main points. Don’t be afraid to write in single sentences. For readability on the web, paragraphs shouldn’t exceed four lines in length.
The title is more important as the entire article
Content marketing legend Neil Patel argues that you should spend as much time writing your headline as writing the entire article. The headline is the advertisement for the rest of the piece; you have to grab attention and resonate with your audience. Otherwise, they won’t even click through to your article.
People like short, visual, easy-to-digest content.
Think about highly-successful websites like Buzzfeed or Huffington Post. Why do you think so many of their articles use lots of images, bullet points, and large text? People love to read and share visual content.
Don’t forget a call-to-action
Remember that every piece of content you create serves one of your business goals. What do you want people to do after they read your article? Do you want them to join your mailing list? Get to a landing page? Include a clear call-to-action within your article.
Seems simple, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is! Even pro marketers sometimes fall into the trap of putting too much effort into high-tech plug-ins or advanced SEO tactics. But those will never replace concise, actionable, visually-appealing content targeted at your ideal customers.
Now you’ve got everything you need to write compelling articles that will grab your readers by the eyeballs and draw them to your website. Get started with the easy-to-use BlabberJax CMS, which allows you to publish content with no coding knowledge whatsoever.
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